1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to portable digital communication apparatuses, such as cellular phones, PDAs (personal digital assistants), HHPs (hand held phones), and PCS (personal communication service) phones, and more particularly to sliding-type portable digital communication apparatuses, which can be conveniently used in an image communication or taking a picture of a subject.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a “portable communication apparatus” means an electronic apparatus which a user can carry with him/her to perform wireless communication with a partner. In consideration of portability, designs of such portable communication apparatuses have tended not only toward compactness, slimness, and lightness, but also toward multimedia availability, having a wider variety of functions. In particular, future portable communication apparatuses are not only expected to pursue greater multi-functionality and multi-purpose utilization, and greater compactness and lightness, but also these apparatuses will be modified to be suitable for various multimedia environments or Internet environments. Additionally, such portable communication apparatuses are now commonly used by all kinds of people, including men and women, the young and the old throughout the world, and are recognized by some people as a nearly indispensable commodity which should be always carried.
Conventional portable communication apparatuses may be classified in various types according to their appearance, such as bar-type portable communication apparatuses, flip-type portable communication apparatuses, and folder-type portable communication apparatuses. The bar-type portable communication apparatus has a single housing shaped like a bar. The flip-type portable communication apparatus has a flip which is pivotally mounted to a bar-shaped housing by a hinge unit. The folder-type portable communication apparatus has a folder coupled to a single bar-shaped housing by a hinge unit in such a manner that the folder can be rotated in order to be folded to or unfolded from the housing.
Further, the portable communication apparatuses may be classified in neck wearable type communication apparatuses and wrist wearable type communication apparatuses according to the position at or the way in which a user puts on the communication apparatus. The neck wearable type communication apparatus is one which a user wears around the neck using a string, while the wrist wearable type communication apparatus is one which a user wears around the wrist.
Additionally, the portable communication apparatuses may be classified into rotation-type communication apparatuses and sliding-type communication apparatuses according to a manner of opening and closing the communication apparatuses. In the rotation-type portable communication apparatus, two housings are coupled to each other in such a manner that one housing rotates to be opened or closed relative to the other. In the sliding-type portable communication apparatus, two housings are coupled to each other in a manner that one housing slides to be opened or closed relative to the other. These variously classified portable communication apparatuses can be easily understood by those skilled in the art.
In addition to the portable communication apparatuses as described above, headphone type portable communication apparatuses or eyeglasses type portable communication apparatuses, which a user can wear on his or her body, are expected to appear in the near future.
Meanwhile, conventional portable communication apparatuses now tend to have a function of transmitting data at a high speed in addition to the basic function of performing voice communication. In other words, according to an increased demand by consumers, portable communication apparatuses now tend to provide a service using a wireless communication technology capable of transmitting data at a high speed. Recent portable communication apparatuses tend to be equipped with a camera lens which enables each of the communication apparatuses to transmit an image signal. In other words, current conventional portable communication apparatuses may have an imbedded or external camera lens or a photographing means enabling a user to make an image communication with a partner or to take a photograph of a subject.
However, in the conventional sliding-type portable communication apparatuses, each having an embedded camera lens module, the lens module is fixed to a body housing or a sliding housing, which makes it inconvenient for a user to take a photograph of a subject. In some cases, a user cannot help changing his or her pose or position in order to obtain the desired photographs of a subject with the conventional apparatus. Meanwhile, in the case of conventional portable communication apparatuses each having a separate external camera lens module, there is a high possibility that the camera lens module may be lost.